Photo Illustration: Thomas Trutschel/Photothek (Getty).
If you’re reading this right now, it means that you’re either putting off doing something productive or tired of setting aside productive activities in favor of starring blankly at your phone. Whatever the reason for wanting to increase your output to the world around you, the time is now to start utilizing your time more effectively. Obviously everyone is different, so what may be a distracting app for one person might not bother another. Approach each accordingly as we evaluate the 10 apps you should delete off your phone right now if you want to increase your productivity.
10 Apps You Should Delete From Your Phone:
Your phone should be feeling lighter already. But just in case you need a little more convincing that these apps are a total waste of your time, check out their more honest names and try convincing yourself they are still as valuable as you think they are.
If you simply can’t let go, we suggest checking these out: The Wildest Videos Already Caught On Facebook Live
10 Apps You Should Delete From Your Phone To Increase Productivity
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1. Facebook
Facebook is one of the biggest time sucks on the internet, and can easily lead you down a rabbit hole of comments, likes, and political arguments with complete strangers. One minute you’re planning on getting in a full day of work and then, six hours later, you’ve come to a stalemate in an argument about global warming in the comment section of a Rick James toucan parody video called “Super Beak.” What’s worst of all is that Facebook now does push notifications when your friends have birthday as well as your Facebook memories, which is just a recap of what you were posting a year ago on this day.
Photo: Carl Court (Getty).
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2. Facebook Messenger
If you’re going to dump Facebook, you might as well send its stupid Messenger app along with it. There’s no reason why Facebook needed a separate app for messages considering every other social app has a messenger integrated into it. The most obnoxious part of it is that, if you don’t want notifications on, it’ll bombard you with requests to turn them on every single time you open it. It’s like a creepy dude that keeps sending “hey” texts to a girl that hasn’t responded in weeks and leaves read receipts on so he knows she’s ignoring him. Take the hint, Messenger.
Photo: Josh Edelson/AFP/Getty Images
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3. Instagram
So I didn’t put Twitter on this list because, at times, it can be a viable source of news and information. Instagram, on the other hand, has never really served a purpose beyond seeing what your aunt had for lunch and what filters make your friends look the thinnest. There’s also memes and sunsets. Am I missing anything else? Probably not, but that won’t stop you from mindlessly scrolling through it, closing the app, then opening it right back up to scroll through the exact same posts again.
Photo Illustration: Thomas Trutschel/Photothek (Getty).
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4. Card Games
If you’re going on a flight and need something to do on the runway after you’ve been told to turn your phone into airplane mode, then a few card game apps might come in handy. The problem is when you find yourself sitting around and playing them at times when you could actually be doing something worthwhile. At least it doesn’t have the built-in frustration and annoyance of social media apps, but what have you gained from playing? You won $4,000 pretend dollars in blackjack? Cool!
Photo: kostsov (Getty).
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5. Candy Crush or Whatever Candy Crush Adjacent Game You Keep Playing
The thing with these games is that, not only are they a giant waste of time, but they’re also designed to get you hooked and make things just difficult enough to where you can almost beat a level, but not quite. Then they offer an easy solution: simply buy this little booster for pocket change and you can move on. So not only are you wasting time, you’re also wasting money. Hooray!
Photo Illustration: Joe Raedle (Getty).
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6. Reddit
Reddit is a fantastic resource for wasting an incredible amount of time. There are constantly fascinating posts that you could quickly scroll through, but that’s not what happens. Instead, you read the story, then you start reading the comments and, before you know it, you’re in the depths of a Reddit thread that’s gone from asking the breed of a cute puppy to debating the validity of the moon landing. It’s a slippery slope, and certainly one you shouldn’t try and foot while you need to be working.
Photo: Reddit
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7. SnapChat
I know a lot of people enjoy posting on SnapChat, but have you ever watched anything on SnapChat you were glad you saw? Did that stop you from mindlessly clicking through blurry, eight-second clips of your friend at a New Found Glory concert? Not at all! You’ll be amazed at how quickly you forget this one even exists when you wipe it from your phone.
Photo Illustration: Thomas Trutschel/Photothek (Getty).
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8. Tinder
Just as easily as you can blow through an entire hour scrolling through Instagram pictures, you can swipe through countless Tinder profiles. At a certain point, it’s not even about trying to find a date, but just something to be doing. If you don’t want to completely delete it off your phone because you’re afraid you’re going to die alone, just stick it in a subfolder and limit the time you spend on it.
Photo: Leon Neal (Getty).
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9. YouTube
When’s the last time you only watched one YouTube video, then put your phone away and got back to work? Just get rid of it! If you absolutely need to watch a video, there’s always the browser version. That way, you have to type out the entire URL instead of just clicking a button. Removing your bookmarks is another great way to increase your productivity because you’re less likely to visit a site you have to actively seek out instead of ones that are just in a row for you to click through. How many times have you just cycled through your bookmarks over and over and over?
Photo: Eric Piermont/AFP/Getty Images
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10. Your Notifications
This is the biggest distraction of all. If you can’t just put your phone away -- which is obviously the most effective message -- and you don’t want to delete a bunch of apps, just turn your notifications off. Is a notification that the guy that sat behind you in ninth grade political science really worth distracting you from your job? The less opportunity you give your phone to beg for your attention, the better.
Photo: milindri (Getty).
